The Fraport Aviation Academy – operated by Fraport Slovenija – was handed over on March 6. The area with more than 12,000 m2 and numerous training models in 3D – from pump systems, aircraft parts to a three-storey fire house – offers a wide-ranging training program for aviation and non-aviation (firefighting, crisis and emergency management). Rosenbauer is one of the strategic partners of the Aviation Academy and has kitted out the Ljubljana Training Center with state-of-the-art firefighting technology. In addition to the PANTHER Tactical Simulator, this includes a PANTHER 6×6 for real driving exercises, the EMEREC Pilot deployment information systems for controlling training, and the service4fire vehicle management system to ensure operational safety and the logging of vehicle usage. As well as all this, complete PPE kits consisting of HEROS-titan protective helmets, FiRE MAX 3 protective suits and TWISTER protective boots have also been supplied to trainers and exercise participants so that they are optimally protected even during “hot training”.

“Strategic partnership with Rosenbauer is for us of a great importance. The combination of our knowledge and experiences and Rosenbauer’s newest technology results in a higher quality of training. During the courses participants are able to receive integrated knowledge about the usage of the vehicles and equipment as well as on firefighting tactics and techniques. Together we are able to develop even better solutions for airport firefighters around the globe”, says Thomas Uihlein, Director of the Fraport Aviation Academy.

Safe in operationOn a PANTHER tactical simulator, the operation of the technically demanding vehicles can be practised, as well as specific operational tactics. All deployment scenarios can be trained on, with all details of airports and all runway traffic simulated. An operator or training manager controls the training, with the exercises being recorded and later analysed and reviewed from different angles as well as from a bird’s-eye view (“Flying Eye”).

The greatest advantages of simulator training: you are always accident-free, and you don’t endanger yourself or others, no matter how tricky your mission. They consume no fuel and no expensive extinguishing agents. And they can be designed with realism in mind and repeated as often as you wish until every move is perfect, and the emergency crews are able to intuitively correctly operate their equipment. In addition, a simulator allows operational scenarios to be practised which cannot be recreated in real-life training due to costs or environmental reasons.

High-end simulatorThe PANTHER Tactical Simulator is available in different sizes and versions: the Cockpit Classroom variety is a solution with PANTHER controls and 4k screens. This cockpit simulator can also be installed on a transportable car trailer or roll-off container and provides the same workspace as the original: although windows and rear-view mirrors are replaced by screens, everything else is just as in the emergency vehicle.

The Full Cab version is installed as a stationary machine, and offers the most intensive training experience. It consists of an original PANTHER driver’s cab and a pre-installed 210° projection screen with an eight-metre screen diagonal. Its three projectors are equipped with edge blending software, so that a seamless image appears on the screen and you have the same all-round visibility as when you look out of the actual vehicle. A screen is mounted above the driver’s head, which provides a view of the boom or the roof turret. The handling characteristics in the simulator also depends on the tank contents of the PANTHER and the road conditions; the steering feeds back about the terrain being driven on.

Everything is realisticAn extinguishing attack on a burning aircraft cannot be practised anywhere as realistically and safely as in a PANTHER Tactical Simulator: simultaneous driving and extinguishing, the correct positioning of the vehicle at the scene of the emergency, the exact control of the boom and the various turrets (bumper, roof, HRET and rear turret) or the exact positioning when piercing an aircraft skin with the Piercing Tool.

How the fire behaves, via which dynamics it is propagated or extinguished, is illustrated with the use of algorithms. It can be seen exactly by which jet setting on the turret the best extinguishing result is achieved and where foam has already successfully extinguished a fire. Also, the virtual fire has the ability to spread again if the extinguishing efforts have been inadequate. All very realistic and with the full dynamics of an aircraft firefighting operation.

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